Digital Platforms and Ecology. Allies or Foes?
Tuesday 29 November 2022, 17.00-19.00 (UK time)
In person at Mc-Crea Building, room 1-17, and on MS Teams
Are digital platforms good or bad for the natural environment? The second workshop of the series ‘the Politics of Platform Societies’ will unpack this complex question. As the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) demonstrates the struggle of world powers at taking decisive action, the question of whether the digital transition is an ‘ally’ or a ‘foe’ for green politics is more timely than ever. On the one hand, both EU ‘Next Generation’ programmes and UK ‘digital’ and ‘climate change’ strategies envision the digital and the green as twin transitions towards a more sustainable environment. The flow of data and the development of artificial intelligence can support a ‘smart’ development in energetic grids, systems of transportation, logistic. On the other hand, the environmental impacts of digital infrastructures that support increased flows of data as well as the impacts of the overconsumption of digital devices is overlooked – both in academia and in public discourse. Our guests will provide insights to advance knowledge on the dialectics underlying the relations between digital platforms and ecology, on the potential agency of governments and international organisations to prompt a eco-friendly digitalisation, and on how social movements can organise resistance to models of digitalisation that over-exploit natural resources.
Dr Giorgio Pirina (University Cà Foscari, Venice, Italy) will deliver a keynote speech to the workshop. Giorgio is an expert on the impact of platform capitalism on labour and ecology and he is currently pioneering studies on the impacts of the digital transition on global supply chains of raw materials. His focus is on the predatory extraction of minerals for digital infrastructures and devices. Among his publications: Beyond the Myths of Digitalization: Labor, Space and Ecology in the Digital Age; SME in the Digital Era (forthcoming); The Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Serra de Estrela, Between UNESCO Geopark and Lithium Mining.
Dr Pauline Heinrichs (Lecturer in International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London) will focus on how the digital and the green transitions are intertwined in international relations. Pauline’s expertise is on how the strategic narratives of world leaders shape international relations. Further, she conducted research and policy engagement at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference.
Namine Abou Bakari is Digital Rights Campaigner for the Greens/EFA at European Parliament and she collaborates with the Green European Foundation. Namine has worked extensively on digitalisation and the green transition, in particular on the right to repair and circular economy.
Professor Ben O’Loughlin (Director of the New Political Communication Unit at Royal Holloway) will introduce the workshop series.
The workshop is open to anyone. Indeed, our aim is to stimulate the participation of students, academics and citizens from every background and expertise. Digital platforms are part of our daily lives, shaping how we communicate, consume and crucially seek information on political events. These are the conditions in which we can be political. Our goal is to provide all the attendants with a compass to become more aware of the political implications of digitalisation.